Federal political reporter

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has sought to assure people the worst of the budget cuts is over, saying he will work to ensure there's no need for such changes "to ever be repeated".

Mr Newman used a "State of the State" address in Brisbane today to stress the importance of last week's budget, which confirmed the cutting of 14,000 public sector positions and a course back to a budget surplus in coming years.

He also sought to float a new positive message, arguing the community must value and nurture creativity.

"This has been a difficult and challenging time for many people, but we need the right-sized public service that provides services to Queenslanders at a price they can afford to pay," he told about 1000 people at the business gathering at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.

"It's about dealing with problems that simply should never have occurred in the first place.

"That's why we will work closely with the public service to make sure there is no need for the kind of cuts and changes put in place last week to ever be repeated."

Mr Newman said he "wholeheartedly" rejected the notion that a smaller bureaucracy led to a reduction in services.

The Premier spoke of cutting red tape, improving planning processes, partnering with the private sector where practical and offering "modern service delivery systems" that saved money.

"By that I mean we will provide the best services possible at a cost that provides value for money. We can and will do more with less," he said.

In an attempt to promote the merits of last week's budget, Mr Newman said the government would save $1.3 billion over four years in interest payments alone, enough to fund 1300 hospital beds.

Mr Newman said many people had asked him what the LNP government would look like going forward, now that the first budget had been delivered. He said it aimed to be "the best" government in Australia and would be efficient, modern and service-oriented.

Mr Newman said the government was aiming to grow the four economic "pillars" of construction, resources, tourism and agriculture.

However, he said a community that nurtured and valued creativity was the foundation on which those four pillars were built.

Mr Newman said he wanted to ensure young Queenslanders had a world-class education but then also had the opportunity and desire to put their knowledge to use at home.

"They must feel there is a creative environment here in Queensland to engage and challenge them," Mr Newman said.

"So, first we must make improvements in our education standards at all levels, and then we must develop not just a snappy slogan, but ways to ensure we encourage and support creativity right across our community: in the fields of science, IT, the arts, and through our education and training sectors.

"While we have to find ways to do this within our budget constraints, we are prepared to work collaboratively and closely with arts organisations, the non-government sector, universities, schools and communities across the state to attract and create opportunities for the best and brightest."

The arts community has previously criticised the Newman government for several decisions, including scrapping funding for the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards.

Mr Newman's address was organised by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia.

130 comments

And the voters will work to make sure his government will never be repeated......

Commenter

WatchOut

Date and time

September 19, 2012, 1:51PM

He means he hopes the worst negative PR of the cuts is overWell, sorry Mr Bonaparte - they've barely started. You will take this to your grave

Commenter

pig-cat-eons

Location

sunny coast

Date and time

September 19, 2012, 4:12PM

Good one! Actually, the Labor cronies at the Federal government level will be next (and they have also been firing public "servants").

Commenter

Reality Check

Date and time

September 19, 2012, 7:32PM

Hey Reality Check, the only political party that any worker has to fear, whether it be a public servant or otherwise, is from a Coalition Government. If you haven't noticed, the Queensland, NSW and Victoria state governments, all Coalition and LNP governments, are the ones doing mass sackings. As for Abbott and the Federal Coalition, they have to fund their repealing of everything somehow. Reality check anyone?

Commenter

OTS

Date and time

September 19, 2012, 9:55PM

"the worst of the cuts are over" - that certainly does not rule out more cuts - just means there may not be another 14,000! Ah - the words of politicians.

Commenter

Rosie H.

Location

Warwick

Date and time

September 19, 2012, 1:51PM

The Premier spoke of cutting red tape, improving planning processes, partnering with the private sector where practical and offering "modern service delivery systems" that saved money.

I didn't see anything in the budget to pay for these "modern service delivery systems". In fact the Queensland Government needs to spend significant money in this area as most of its IT systems are over a decade old. This is an area Labor stuffed up which the LNP Government really needs to address.

Commenter

Verdad

Location

Brisbane

Date and time

September 19, 2012, 1:56PM

I agree about the parlous state of the government IT infrastructure but you must know by now that what they say and what they do are two entirely different things.

Commenter

Hewy209

Date and time

September 20, 2012, 10:32AM

"partnering with the private sector where practical" means outsourcing and privatisation. Before the election he promised no cuts to the public service and no privatisation without a mandate.

Commenter

Meanwhile

Location

in the real world

Date and time

September 19, 2012, 1:57PM

I have no problem with outsourcing some services - Private sector firms are all light on for work in the current econmic climate so are VERY price competitive on the services they deliver. In-house business units like goprint, project services, qbuild etc are a luxury for a booming economy when they can deliver services cheaper than the private sector - but not in an "unoffical recession" economy.

Commenter

ProblemSolver

Location

BrizVegas

Date and time

September 19, 2012, 5:30PM

It may be over for the public service job cuts, but its only just begun for the private sector. Consultancies are laying off left right and centre in response to the State chaos. We're on the brink of a recession.